NEWS
140,000 council jobs set to be shed in the next year - LGA
in the next year as a result of spending cuts, council leaders have warned.
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New analysis by the Local Government Association has revealed that the scale of job losses is likely to be 40 per cent higher than was originally thought following the Comprehensive Spending Review.
The LGA originally predicted 100,000 posts would go after chancellor George Osborne set out the broad framework for public spending in the June budget. But the government’s decision to ‘front load’ a large proportion of the cuts into the first year - rather than allow councils to spread them evenly over the four years of the spending review - is likely to lead
round 140,000 local authority jobs are expected to be shed
to around 140,000 posts being cut.
The unexpected severity of the first year cuts means councils will have to trim their budgets by an average of 11 per cent in 2011/12. Some authorities will also have to deal with the difficult impact of the loss of the Working Neighbourhoods Fund, which channelled £450 million to different parts of the country.
The government has set up a £200 million capitalisation fund to help councils with the cost of cutting jobs, which is helpful, but the LGA is calling on the government to go further to ease the effect of these reductions in next month’s local government finance settlement so councils can spread the cuts more evenly over the next four years. The government also needs to clarify the level of new central government grants that will
replace existing specific grants. A number of these grants were not finalised in last month’s CSR announcements.
Baroness Margaret Eaton, chairman of the Local Government Association, said: “Local councils knew the cuts were coming and had planned prudently to reduce spending over the coming years.
We cut more than £1 billion from our budgets in the middle of this year, rolled up our sleeves and got on with the job. But the unexpected severity of the cuts that will have to be made next year will put many councils in an unprecedented and difficult position.
“No council cuts jobs lightly, but many are being left with no choice. Some jobs will go in natural wastage, not filling vacancies and voluntary
redundancy, however, we cannot escape the fact that some losses will be dedicated professional posts that, given a choice, councils would not want to see go. These are the tough choices we are going to have to make.
“Local government will have to make cuts next year of around £2 billion more than we anticipated just a month ago. This stifles the opportunities for innovation and means town halls will be forced to cut further and deeper next year than they first thought.
“In order to protect frontline services, the government must ensure that councils have the flexibility needed to manage changes to grant funding that are heavily loaded at the beginning of the four year settlement period. Grants that have yet to be finalised must be set at levels that help councils, rather than making a difficult situation even worse.”
Most council workers fear for services and their jobs
services will suffer in the wake of the Comprehensive Spending Review, according to a survey by local government directory the Municipal Year Book.
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A snap-shot poll carried out immediately after the chancellor’s statement garnered the views of more than 800 mid- to senior-level council officers working for authorities across the country.
Over 90% of those polled thought it inevitable that services would suffer following a tough CSR, which set out sharp cuts for local government sector.
More than two thirds feared for their jobs, although just less than
4 pse
n overwhelming majority of council workers believe
a third felt that industrial action was the right way to protest at the cuts.
While respondents felt further savings could be made in the local government sector, many were concerned about the speed at which the cuts were being imposed on councils.
There was deep scepticism that local businesses would be able to provide adequate job opportunities for those who have to leave council employment. Nearly 95% felt the private sector would be unable to provide these jobs and many respondents thought local companies would struggle without the vital support role councils play in revitalising local economies.
The long-term view was a little
more optimistic, however. A little over half of officers felt the measures in the Comprehensive Spending Review would benefit local government in the long term by encouraging innovation.
But council staff were unconvinced over government pledges to free red tape at the local level and ultimately foster a better relationship with central government, with 70% feeling that bureaucracy would not lessen as a result of the review.
“There is clearly a very high level of concern for jobs in the public sector at the moment with even top management being concerned for the future of their own roles,” said MYB managing editor, Dean Wanless. “The anger felt in lower levels of local authority employment, however,
may not be shared by managers with only a third in favour of industrial action.
“That said, it seems that the appetite for innovation is strong, with the vast majority of respondents confident that there will be improvements in the sector, although it is fair to suggest that these might have come in spite of the CSR rather than because of it with the relationship with central government still being poor.
“Perhaps the biggest concern is the lack of confidence in the private sector to provide jobs for those that are forced to leave the private sector. It remains to be seen if the coalition will do enough to provide stimulus for the private sector to thrive again.”
Nov/Dec 10
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